Large-scale FE analysis of steel building frames using E-Simulator

The results of a high-precision finite element (FE) analysis using the E-Simulator, which is a parallel FE analysis software package for virtual shaking-table tests of civil or architectural structures, are presented for the seismic responses of a 4-story steel frame and a 31-story super-high-rise steel frame. The 4-story frame is a specimen of the full-scale total collapse shaking-table test conducted in 2007 at the Hyogo Earthquake Engineering Research Center of the National Research Institute of Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, Japan. These steel frames are modeled by meshes of hexahedral solid elements. Large strain elastoplasticity is considered in the analyses. It is shown through numerical examples that elastoplastic dynamic responses can be estimated with good accuracy without resorting to macro models such as those involving plastic hinge and composite beam effects. (author)